L.A. Noire: Initial Responses
I've been waiting for L.A. Noire since I finished the story on Red Dead Redemption. Today I picked up my copy, and then my day proceeded to turn to shit, but that's another story.
My first impressions of L.A.Noire:
1. "Hey cool! I can turn the game to monochrome!"
2. "Oooh pretty music!"
and now for the serious ones
3. The controls seem to be a combination of what I remember from GTA4 and Red Dead Redemption. Basic character controls (running, jumping, etc) are different and I struggle with that when I switch between L.A. Noire and Red Dead Redemption, luckily, the weapon controls are identical, so that isn't messing me up too much.
4. The investigative controls seem clumsy, moving my hand between different objects to pick up, as well as rotating evidence in my grasp isn't as fluid as I would like. Like the camera in GTA4, it likes to spring my "cursor" back to the centre of the frame, which drives me crazy.
5. Weight. I often rave about Red Dead Redemption in terms of the characters feeling as though they belong in their environment, and as if they actually have some weight. My biggest problem with GTA4 was that the characters and cars move as though they are hovering an inch or so above the ground, just kind of floating around. I was hoping that L.A. Noire would have the weight of Red Dead Redemption, but it doesn't. Characters STILL feel like they're floating a bit. Granted, it isn't as bad as GTA4, so I can deal with it.
6. Stairs. Several flights of stairs used to be an issue for me. You walk up one set and then have to fuck around with your controller to turn around and go up the next set. In L.A. Noire, if you keep pushing forward on your controller, you character will automatically recognise that you want to continue up the stairs. It's awesome.
That's all for now. Nobody will read this, but I wanted to say it.
My first impressions of L.A.Noire:
1. "Hey cool! I can turn the game to monochrome!"
2. "Oooh pretty music!"
and now for the serious ones
3. The controls seem to be a combination of what I remember from GTA4 and Red Dead Redemption. Basic character controls (running, jumping, etc) are different and I struggle with that when I switch between L.A. Noire and Red Dead Redemption, luckily, the weapon controls are identical, so that isn't messing me up too much.
4. The investigative controls seem clumsy, moving my hand between different objects to pick up, as well as rotating evidence in my grasp isn't as fluid as I would like. Like the camera in GTA4, it likes to spring my "cursor" back to the centre of the frame, which drives me crazy.
5. Weight. I often rave about Red Dead Redemption in terms of the characters feeling as though they belong in their environment, and as if they actually have some weight. My biggest problem with GTA4 was that the characters and cars move as though they are hovering an inch or so above the ground, just kind of floating around. I was hoping that L.A. Noire would have the weight of Red Dead Redemption, but it doesn't. Characters STILL feel like they're floating a bit. Granted, it isn't as bad as GTA4, so I can deal with it.
6. Stairs. Several flights of stairs used to be an issue for me. You walk up one set and then have to fuck around with your controller to turn around and go up the next set. In L.A. Noire, if you keep pushing forward on your controller, you character will automatically recognise that you want to continue up the stairs. It's awesome.
That's all for now. Nobody will read this, but I wanted to say it.